Pumpkin crop looking plentiful

Tuesday

If central Illinois producers have a good year in pumpkins, chances are you can count on pie this Thanksgiving.

If central Illinois producers have a good year in pumpkins, chances are you can count on pie this Thanksgiving.

As "the No. 1 pumpkin-producing county in the world," Tazewell County leads the way, said Keith Worner, director of the county Extension office.

"We've had a good growing year. We've got the ideal situation: Sandy soil and ample rain," he said.

The rain may have been a little too ample over the Labor Day weekend, said Kurt Christ of the Christ Orchard in Elmwood.

"We had a lot of pumpkins that sat in water. The later ones are real nice but some got too much moisture," he said, adding that wet conditions can often lead to mold and rot in pumpkins.

Overall, Christ said he's got a plentiful pumpkin crop. "Starting this week, people can come out and pick their own. We've got wagons for them," he said.

This year may be "the best we've ever had," said John Ackerman, who raises pumpkins on 27 acres in Morton. Recent rains have made it "sloppy going" in his fields but the crop has been plentiful, he said.

Ackerman started harvesting his pumpkin crop last week. "Pumpkins can get wet as long as they dry out. It's when it stays wet that you have to watch out," he said.

So, how long can an ornamental pumpkin - those bright orange jack-o'-lantern varieties - last while perched on the front porch?

"If it's good and hard when you get it around the first of October, it can last up to two or three months," said Christ.

But a pumpkin with a soft spot might only last a month, he said.

While Christ and Ackerman raise ornamental pumpkins, there's another type of pumpkin being harvested in central Illinois.

Processing pumpkins are the pale orange varieties grown in many area fields that go into canned pumpkin. Many of these wind up in Morton, the site of a Libby's pumpkin processing plant owned by Nestle Food Co., the firm that cans more than 85 percent of the world's pumpkin crop each year.

"This has been a good year - if Mother Nature lets us finish," said Tom Laatsch, the firm's ag manager. The harvesting of processing pumpkins is a three-month project, starting in mid-August, he said.

Steve Tarter can be reached at (309) 686-3260 or starter@pjstar.com.

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